Everything about your project should be written in the composition book. Here's why:
When you present scientific conclusions to people, they can take you seriously if they see what all you went through to reach those conclusions.
Specific observations are KEY to a good experiment. When you write your findings, you'll have tons of exact words available that came to your mind at the time of experimentation.
Pen Only!
Scientific data is always in danger of being twisted and contaminated with future thoughts. Your future thoughts must be ADDED to your notebook. They must NOT REPLACE any earlier recordings. This is prosecuted by law in business and government. (I know this because I'm married to a Fed who had to investigate such a case.)
To prove you abided by this cornerstone of science, always write in pen. When you want to modify anything, draw a clean line through it so the reader can still see your original words. Then find the cleanest way you can to add your revision.
Don't worry if you have more revisions than original writing. You'll never use up the entire composition book by the end of this project. And any judge will be happy to see your respect for this rule.
Contents of Composition Book
(and recommended number of pages to allow for each)
Table of Contents (1)
Introduction with Big Question (1)
Hypothesis (1)
Annotated bibliography for background information (3)
Materials list (2)
Variables and Controls (2)
Procedure (5)
Data recordings and pictures (tbd)
Charts and graphs (tbd)
Conclusions (tbd)
Sources of Error (tbd)
*tbd - "To be determined"
You can use as many pages as you need for these sections because you won't write the next until you're done with the previous.
If you've gotten clearance on your forms, now hit the pavement and start recording!
Your Composition Book
Everything about your project should be written in the composition book. Here's why:
Pen Only!
Scientific data is always in danger of being twisted and contaminated with future thoughts. Your future thoughts must be ADDED to your notebook. They must NOT REPLACE any earlier recordings. This is prosecuted by law in business and government. (I know this because I'm married to a Fed who had to investigate such a case.)To prove you abided by this cornerstone of science, always write in pen. When you want to modify anything, draw a clean line through it so the reader can still see your original words. Then find the cleanest way you can to add your revision.
Don't worry if you have more revisions than original writing. You'll never use up the entire composition book by the end of this project. And any judge will be happy to see your respect for this rule.
Contents of Composition Book
(and recommended number of pages to allow for each)*tbd - "To be determined"
You can use as many pages as you need for these sections because you won't write the next until you're done with the previous.